Yankees Fan Living the High Life

While it pains me to write anything to do with the New York Yankees, the story about the fan that caught Jeter’s 3,000 hit, which happened to be a home run ball, is pretty cool.

A 23 year-old Yankees fan from just north of the city caught the famous ball, and then graciously offered to give the ball to Jeter at no cost. In return, the fan received season tickets, pictures with Jeter, and the pu pu platter of all things Yankee (barf). As a result of these gifts, it came out that the fan’s tax bill would likely be as high as $14k. Indeed, no good deed goes unpunished.

At the same time as this tax news broke, some marketing genius at Miller sprang into action. The result? On Wednesday, Miller High Life said that they are covering the fan’s tax bill.

“Miller High Life believes you should be rewarded for doing the right thing, not penalized,” Miller High Life brand manager Brendan Noonan said in a statement. “We want to recognize Christian Lopez, and in turn everyone like him, for doing the common sense thing and help him continue to live the High Life.”

Is this a great idea or what? For around $10k, which is chump change to the company, High Life comes up smelling like roses. They are the hero for saving this underdog fan, which plays to their everyman image, they have inserted the brand into the national story of the New York Yankee captain’s milestone hit, and they look quick on their feet. One of the main problems for so many large companies is that they are so slow to make decision and fail to strike when the iron is hot. Here, High Life struck, and struck gold.

H/t to ESPN for the news, which, again, shows the ubiquitous coverage of this small gesture.

2 Responses

The sports media world is assailing him as a dumbshit for not cashing in on the ball, which could be worth 100-250k on the open market. Many point to his crushing student loan debt. The spin is, if he did cash in the ball, the sports media world would be assailing him as a greedy asshole, looking to make a buck on someone else’s accomplishment. What a cruel world.